


twist perceptions, reality won’t budge

by klainelynch



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Sokka still holds a grudge against Aunt Wu and her anti-science village, The Jasmine Dragon (Avatar), if you look at the timeline Zuko was close to many book 1 shenanigans but just missed them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26383108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klainelynch/pseuds/klainelynch
Summary: Zuko and Toph try to fill in the timeline with some adventures from before they joined the group, but don’t realize what can happen when Sokka remembers an old foe.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Sokka & Zuko, Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 27
Kudos: 177





	twist perceptions, reality won’t budge

“So the first place you followed them to was Kyoshi Island, right?”

“Yeah, and then we lost them for a couple of weeks. The next time I saw them was Avatar Roku’s temple.”

“So was this before or after they met the singing nomads?”

“The who?”

“Singing nomads. Sokka must have told that story about a hundred times— I’m surprised you haven’t heard it yet.”

“I’ve never met anyone like that, but I don’t think there would be many traveling musicians in that part of the Earth Kingdom. People on that coast tend to be more serious— they’re too close to the Fire Nation to be any other way.”

“Well, Sokka said they were on their way to Omashu, and he was trapped underground for an entire day with these annoying musicians. He swears that they almost got eaten by wolfbats, but then he accidentally played a song on the guitar, and the badgermoles loved the song so much that they led them out.”

“That can’t be real.”

“That’s what I said, but Sokka insists it’s the truth.”

“Huh.”

“Tell me about it.”

Zuko settled even deeper into his favorite chair in Uncle’s tea shop. He had offered to help with dinner, but he had yawned at the same time, and Uncle insisted that he take this time to relax. His coronation had only been a couple of weeks ago, and this mini vacation would be over tomorrow.

“Enjoy your time with your friends,” Uncle had said, so Zuko was talking with Toph, and the two of them were comparing notes, trying to figure out where Zuko’s path had crossed and nearly crossed with the trio’s based on the stories they had told Toph since she had joined.

“Oh, I think I heard Sokka complaining about an Aunt Wu once. Ever heard of her?”

"Doesn't sound familiar," he shrugged, "add her to our list of people we both missed out on."

“It’s probably a good thing,” she said. “Sokka had a _lot_ of opinions on her and people who don’t believe in science.”

Zuko scratched his head. “I don’t _remember_ any towns that were against science, but I did meet a lot of people while I was following them. Maybe Aunt Wu isn’t actually all that memorable outside of Sokka’s imagination.” 

"Oh, you'd remember her!" Sokka plopped down on the couch next to Toph and crossed his arms. "She claimed to be able to predict the future, but it was all just a bunch of circumstantial nonsense that she made work for her. She was the WORST.”

Zuko assumed he was joking since they had literally just faced his father a few weeks ago, but Sokka’s expression was deadly serious.

“So she tricked some people. Does that really make her the worst person you’ve ever met?” he asked, unaware of the tirade he was about to unleash. 

Sokka’s nostrils flared, and for the next ten minutes, Zuko wasn’t sure if he stopped to take a breath. He supposed he must have, considering he was still alive, but it was a near thing. Breathing seemed less important to Sokka than remembering and ranting.

“— and she was completely full of herself, and _so_ annoying, and had this entire town brainwashed into thinking that she could predict the future,” he said. “If it wasn't for us, they would have let themselves be destroyed by a volcano! I mean, how does that make sense?"

“Dying by a volcano seems pretty stupid,” Toph agreed.

“I know! And when it was all over, they still thought Aunt Wu was right because she had predicted that they would be safe from the volcano, but they were only safe because _we_ made sure they would be.”

Something pricked at the back of Zuko's memories. A town, one he didn't stay in for long, but surrounded by high volcanic walls that were newly formed by the look of them.

"Wait, she didn't wear a gold headpiece, did she?"

Sokka's smack to his forehead made it clear he was remembering correctly. 

Toph's smack on his shoulder caught him by surprise, but made her feelings clear. "I thought we were on this ‘trip down memories that aren’t ours lane’ together! Why'd you have to go and abandon me like that!"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault we went there!" He glanced around, and saw that Katara was playing Pai Sho with Suki. They didn't seem to be close enough to hear their conversation, but he lowered his voice just in case. "We were tracking you with Katara's necklace, and apparently she spent a lot of time here."

"Ugh, yeah, she looooved hearing whatever nonsense Aunt Wu came up with," Sokka said, matching Zuko's volume. "She was the first one in, and she would stay in there for hours, asking all sorts of questions about things that won’t even happen for years. And then by the end, she was even asking Aunt Wu what to eat for breakfast the next day."

Zuko tried to square away the image of a naive teenager who believed in something as silly as fortune telling with the calculating warrior who had taken down his sister; he wasn’t successful.

"Man, what’s your deal with this Aunt Wu? Did she predict you'd have a short and miserable life or something?"

"No!" Sokka huffed, in a way that made it clear that Toph was closer to the truth than he wanted to admit. "For your information, she didn't even read my palms."

"Figures," Toph laughed. "What about you, Zuko? Do you buy into all that fortune telling mumbo jumbo?"

"Nope. Even if I did, we didn't have time for any kind of a reading. We only stayed long enough to realize the three of them had moved on, so we followed the scent.”

“All business, huh?”

“Pretty much. I mean, I didn’t even really _talk_ with her. She asked Uncle Iroh if he wanted his fortune told, but I think she was just flirting with him." Maybe that's why he hadn't remembered her at first— he had tried to block the entire memory out, and she was collateral damage.

Sokka sighed in more relief than Zuko felt the situation deserved. "Why couldn't I have been traveling with the two of you when I stumbled upon that awful village?"

"Uh, because I was kicking butt in the Earth Rumble?"

"And I was kind of hunting you at the time?"

"Oh yeah," Sokka said. "Well, at least we never have to think about her or her stupid town again."

"I don't know," Toph smirked. "Now that the war's done, maybe I need someone to help me figure out what to do next. A fortune teller could come in handy."

"And I don't know anything about ruling a nation," Zuko added, catching on to what she was doing. "It sounds like Aunt Wu can really help people."

“Maybe we should find her, and this time she can give us all a proper reading.”

“Sounds like a plan to me!”

"You two are crazy!" Sokka said, throwing up his hands as he stormed out of the room. They stayed composed until he had turned the corner, and by the time Sokka came back with art supplies in his arms, their stomachs hurt from laughing so much. He glared at them as he cleared a space at the table.

"Well, you may have abandoned me with Aunt Wu, but at least we'll always have not meeting Jeong Jeong."

"Actually, he served with my uncle in—"

"Zuko!"

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt about Toph and Zuko missing out on something, but as usual, my muse switched things up a bit. It was supposed to be about them experiencing the Nomads and the Secret Tunnel, but I wanted to talk about Aunt Wu ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. I don’t actually find Aunt Wu all that annoying, but Sokka DEFINITELY does, and I love a character with a (ridiculous) grudge.
> 
> I went through about a dozen songs before deciding to reference Rush’s “Show Don’t Tell” in my title. I am nothing if not predictable.
> 
> Find me on tumblr at [klainelynch](https://klainelynch.tumblr.com/)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * A [Restricted Work] by [klainelynch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/klainelynch/pseuds/klainelynch) Log in to view. 




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